EB716 EB716 EB716 This report, commissioned by Epping Forest District Council on behalf of a partnership of local authorities and other stakeholders, updates previous visitor survey work at Epping Forest in 2017. The survey results provide up to date visitor information that will underpin strategic approaches to mitigation for urban development and increasing recreation pressure on Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Survey work took place at 17 locations, interviews were conducted at each location with a random sample of people seen and counts were made of the total number of people visiting. 16 of the locations were within the SAC while a further location, at Wanstead Flats, was outside the SAC but represented a large area of greenspace just to the south of the SAC and also managed by the Corporation of London. Surveys took place in early September 2019 and involved 16 hours at each location, spread over daylight and including a weekend day and a weekday. Key results included: • 1,387 groups (involving 2,763 people) were counted entering1 and a further 727 groups (1,324 people) passed through each survey point, equivalent to approximately 255 people per hour across all locations. • Average group size (based on the tally data for people entering) was 1.99 people (including 0.4 minors) and 0.5 dogs. • A total of 662 interviews were conducted, representing the access patterns of 1,431 people (only one person per group was interviewed). • Interviewees were accompanied by a total of 386 dogs of which 45% were noted by the surveyor as being seen off-lead. • Virtually all (97%) were on a short visit and had come directly from home on the day they were interviewed. • There were a varied range of activities recorded, however the majority of interviewees were either dog walking (40%) or walking (30%). Other activities included cycling (8%), running (5%), outing with the family (3%) and enjoying the scenery (3%). • Dog walking and walking were activities undertaken by at least one interviewee at all survey locations. At most locations dog walking was the most frequently cited activity, however walking was the most frequent activity at Broadstrood, Pillow Mounds, Hill Wood Tea Hut and Strawberry Hill. • 67% of interviewees visited at least once a week, with 24% visiting daily. Dog walkers in particular were frequent visitors (49% of dog walkers visiting daily). 1 Those entering being those accessing the site from the given survey point (e.g. leaving the car-park to start a walk) while those passing would be those moving through as part of a longer route (often cyclists and horse riders). • Most interviewees were either visiting for 1-2 hours (37%) or for 30 minutes to an hour (35%) • Many interviewees (35%) did not have a specific time of day that they tended to visit. For those interviewees that did specify a time, the most frequently cited period was between 7am and 10am (30%). • Most interviewees (68%) stated they visited equally all year round, rather than in any one particular season or time of year. • The majority (59%) of interviewees had been visiting for more than 10 years. Connaught Water and Buckhurst Cricket Ground were locations with relatively high proportions of visitors who have been visiting for more than 5 years. • Two-thirds (66%) of interviewees arrived by car/van and a further 25% arrived on foot. Connaught Water was the location with the highest number of interviewees arriving by car (and also the highest percentage, 95%). Locations with reasonably high proportions of interviewees arriving on foot included Lakeside, St. Peters and Leyton Flats. • A total of 650 routes were mapped. Across all interviewees and including sections of routes outside the site boundary, the median route length was 2,571m. The median for routes truncated within the SAC boundary and Wanstead Flats boundary was 1,989m. • The median route length (not clipped to the SAC/Wanstead Flats boundary) for dog walkers was 2.34km, for walkers it was 2.99km, for cyclists it was 10.84km, for runners it was 5.32km and for all other interviewees 1.26km. • Close to home (or other accommodation or work etc.) was by far the most common reason for site choice (i.e. why people had chosen that specific location rather than another location that day), cited by 33% of interviewees. Other factors cited by at least 10% of interviewees related to habit/familiarity (17%), to the presence of refreshments nearby (12%) and to the scenery/variety of views (14%). • Overall, 31% of interviewees indicated that all of their visits (for the given activity) took place at Epping Forest while a further 30% indicated that 75% or more of their visits took place at Epping Forest. • Other locations, named as alternative locations visited by interviewees, included Wanstead, Lee Valley Park, Roding Valley, Walthamstow Wetlands and Chingford. • 29% of interviewees were able to identify a different local greenspace site that could be improved for access and work as an alternative destination away from Epping Forest. Over 70 locations were identified and improvements predominantly related to removal of parking charges, issues with safety, fly tipping and dog mess, a need for better paths/path surfacing and the provision of refreshments. • 38% of interviewees stated they had visited one of the visitor centres at Epping Forest over the past year and 30% of interviewees had spoken to a Corporation of London ranger or other staff member over the past year. • In total, 595 interviewees gave full postcodes that could be matched to the national postcode database and accurately plotted within the GIS. Overall (across all interviewees) the median distance, as the crow flies, was 2.6km. For survey points that related to the SAC (excluding Wanstead Flats) and for those people on a short-visit directly from home (i.e. excluding the few holiday-makers) the median distance was 2.68km and 75% lived within 6.59km. Map 11 on page 54 shows the 75th percentiles and the interviewee postcodes and therefore indicates a potential zone of influence for recreation and the SAC. EB716 • Dog walkers (median distance 1.84km) and daily visitors (median 1.72km) lived relatively close compared to other interviewees. • Over a third (35%) of all interviewees that gave a full valid postcode were residents of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, with a further 31% residents of Epping District District. 12% of interviewees came from London Borough of Redbridge and then no other local authority contributed more than 5% of the interviewees. EB716 This survey has been commissioned by Epping Forest District Council on behalf of a partnership of Local Authorities and other stakeholders. We are grateful to Alison Blom-Cooper (Epping Forest District Council) for commissioning the work. Our thanks also to Jeremy Dagley (Corporation of London) for advice on survey point selection and permission to undertake the survey work. Surveys were conducted by Julia Bastone, Graham Blight, Jackie Lake, Kim Leyland, Jenny Price, Jack Rawlings and Mel Roach. We extend our thanks to all those who stopped and gave their time to be interviewed. Fenella Lewin co-ordinated the fieldwork and route data were digitised by Zoe Caals. This visitor report has been commissioned by Epping Forest District Council (on behalf of a partnership of local authorities and other stakeholders) to build on previous visitor survey work (conducted in 2017) to better understand the visitor use of Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The survey results will be used to inform the on-going development of joint strategies that will address the need to avoid and mitigate impacts to the SAC as a result of increased recreation use, linked to local plan-led development. The former royal forest of Epping Forest (which extends beyond the Special Area of Conservation) is London’s largest open space, covering 2,400 hectares, framed by Walthamstow, Leytonstone and Wanstead to the south, the Lee Valley to the west, the M11 to the east and the M25 to the north. The Forest is run by a charity owned and managed by the City of London Corporation (CoL). Epping Forest is wood-pasture with habitats of high nature conservation value including ancient semi-natural woodland, old grassland plains, wet and dry heathland and scattered wetland. The woodland represents one of the largest continuous semi-natural blocks in the country, characterised by groves of over-mature pollards. The plains contain a variety of unimproved acid grasslands uncommon elsewhere in Essex and the London area. The Forest supports a nationally outstanding assemblage of invertebrates, fungi, mosses and liverworts, veteran trees, amphibians and notable assemblages of breeding birds and lichens. The Forest lies on a ridge of London clay overlain in places by Claygate Beds, and in the highest areas by Bagshot Sand and Pebble Gravel. The varied geology gives rise to a mosaic of soil types from neutral soils to acidic loams and from impervious clays to well-drained gravels. To a large extent the soil patterns have dictated the pattern of vegetation. Historically Epping Forest was managed as wood-pasture through coppicing and latterly pollarding, which declined during the 19th century and eventually ceased in 1878 under the Epping Forest Act. Recently pollarding has been reinstated in some places along with extensive grazing. EB716 Much of the woodland is dominated by veteran pollards of pedunculate oak, beech and hornbeam, with some of coppice origin indicating an even older management system. These exemplify the three main wood-pasture types found in Britain: oak-beech, oak-hornbeam and mixed oak. The understorey is often holly, which can form dense stands, and more rarely hazel or rowan.